All These Things That I've Done
by DamnedEitherWay
Summary: A by-episode story on the developing romantic relationship between Cameron and Thirteen beginning with Season 5 Episode 12, Painless.
1. Chapter 1

**After reading so many awesome stories about Cameron and Thirteen by so many awesome authors, I decided to write one of my own. So, here it is!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own House M.D. and that includes its characters and plots. This is story is purely an outlet.**

"32 year-old male with chronic pain all over." Cameron stated, getting straight down to business. The patient's been in butt loads of pain and was sent to the ER a couple days ago after a failed suicide attempt. She spent the whole day yesterday doing up House's departmental budgets so that he would owe her a favour and help the guy.

"This is the favour?" House mocked, "I was expecting something involving whipped cream and tongue depressors." And as always, finishing off with an inappropriate and unnecessary comment.

"He's seen seven different specialists over three years. No diagnosis and no relief." Cameron continued, remaining impassive. She wanted nothing more than to get House to take the case and get the hell out of the office, which she reasoned to be tiredness resulting from doing his budgets the previous day and not because of a certain brunette doctor being in that same office.

"Oh, I am fascinated already. It's like I'm treating myself. He gets cured; and I get to learn a valuable lesson about milk of human kindness." replied House, cleverly seeing through Cameron's intention.

"If I thought you learned lessons, I never would've quit." Cameron retorted, not going to let House get the satisfaction of reading her so easily. She was unconsciously glad for the annoyance that's building up within her, distracting her from something else. Or someone else, in this case.

"So you're wasting a favour because?" House questioned. "I think you can help this guy." Cameron replied honestly. This was her initial intention before she figured that it could help House too. "Drug-seeking patients-"

"Don't attempt suicide with medicine cabinets full of narcotics." Cameron cutting House off before he could finish his sentence.

The team, sitting in the same room, was listening in on the conversation while reading the file. "Sounds like fibromyalgia." Thirteen suggested.

The idea presented by the internist accidentally pushed Cameron's annoyance over the edge. "Sounds like you don't work for House." As soon as that comment came out, Cameron winced internally, knowing fully how convincingly bitchy she sounded. She hadn't meant for that to happen, let alone be directed at Thirteen of all people. But by the way House was going on and on without actually flat out accepting the case, was really getting on her nerves.

Thirteen, on the other hand, not expecting that sudden small outburst from the oh-so-nice Cameron, raised a slightly indignant eyebrow and turned her head towards Cameron.

"A diagnosis that provides neither an explanation nor a cure is by definition not a diagnosis." Cameron continued on, trying to justify her previous snarky comment or more on a subconscious level, to redeem herself in the eyes of Thirteen, who was now looking at her which not at all helped the situation.

"The American College of Rheumatology would disagree. There are specific diagnostic criteria-"

"Which this guy doesn't meet. Putting pressure on his pain helps, doesn't make it worse. He's got abdominal pain, severe headaches, muscle cramps that come and go." Before Foreman could even finish standing up for Thirteen, he was interrupted by a rather exasperated Cameron. Cameron, realizing that herself, began slowing her words and lowering her tone down as her explanation went on.

Her heart rate had been going up rapidly since that encounter with Thirteen less than a minute ago. Cameron knew she needed to calm down, she would hyperventilate otherwise. So, she slowly walked over to the team and leaned against the back of an empty chair for support. The presence of the brunette doctor next to the seat, ironically, was helping her soothed her nerves.

"And he tried to off himself. He's obviously mentally ill. Pain's probably psychological." Taub said, chipping in to the differential.

"It is not a sign of mental illness to want to be pain-free." Cameron snapped back, narrowing her eyes at Taub. Though still feeling a little overwhelmed, she was relieved that they were now in the diagnosing part of the process.

House, after concluding the patient's previous doctors being idiots, gave his team member an assignment each and then irritatingly pointed out to Cameron to go home. With that, Cameron and the team shuffled out of the diagnostics room. He casted a suspicious eye towards Foreman when he volunteered to help with searching the patient's house, an assignment he assigned to Thirteen. _Interesting._

_

* * *

_

Thirteen was pressing the close button in the elevator when she saw Cameron running towards her. She instinctively held out one hand to stop the elevator door from closing, earning herself a mumbled "Thanks" from Cameron and the two doctors proceeded to exchange awkward smiles with each other.

The elevator door was already more than halfway closed and Foreman, knowing exactly who was in it, practically sprinted towards it. But as luck would have it, the door closed fully just as he reached the entrance. The fact that he was sure Cameron saw him running towards the elevator but did nothing to stop the door from closing, baffled him. He scrunched up his face in annoyance as he punched the elevator button and waited for the next lift to arrive.

Cameron's heart was racing. She could feel the fast-paced thumping of her heart against her chest. The thumping almost seemed to drown out the silence that filled the elevator, but she was all too aware of it. Wracking her brain for something to say, the only thought running through her head though, was she's in a small, confined area with the object of her obsession for the past couple of months. Alone.

Not quite sure what to do with her hands, Cameron started to fiddle with the helm of her scrubs while Thirteen patiently watched the lighting of the floor numbers change.

"Erm, sorry about before. Kinda snapped at you." Finally, Cameron was able to force the words out of her mouth.

"It's okay. Don't worry 'bout it." Thirteen replied, flashing Cameron a reassuring smile afterwards.

Cameron's breath caught in her throat. Her mouth hung slightly loose and suddenly all the moisture in it seemed to have evaporated. When the bluish-grey eyes of Thirteen's caught her own blue ones, that tiny twinkle she saw in the depths of those mesmerizing eyes when Thirteen smiled was probably the most beautiful thing. Cameron found herself staring a little too long but was unable to look away. With the questioning look Thirteen was giving her, meant the staring was in fact, too much too long.

The ding of the elevator snapped Cameron out of her trance. A second later, she felt her cheeks flushed. Thirteen turned her head up to confirm that the elevator had reached her destination. "My stop. Guess I'll see you around, Dr. Cameron."

"Yeah, for sure."

Thirteen responded with a slight nod of her head before continuing her way towards the locker room. _Huh, that was weird._ She smirked ever so slightly to herself and then shook her head to get the thoughts of the elevator incident out of her head because right now, she had a job to do.

As soon as the elevator door closed, Cameron smacked herself on the forehead. _That could not have gone any worse. _"Idiot!" She whispered harshly to herself. After she had followed the team out of the diagnostics room, Cameron had decided she might as well run some errands on the same floor. However, when she saw a certain brunette doctor stepping into the elevator in the other direction from the corner of her eyes, she quickly changed her trek.

She wished she had just gone through with her original plan, now that she's convinced she had completely embarrassed herself in front of Thirteen. When the elevator dinged again, Cameron stepped out and huffed the whole way to her office in the ER.

* * *

Thirteen was in the process of looking through a metal shelf in the patient's garage when Foreman entered, holding a large plastic bag packed with bottles of pills.

"There's nothing in there but a pharmacy's worth of pain meds. This guy makes House looks like a Christian Scientist. He's also more compliant than House. Kept all the inserts, had daily pill dispensers to make sure he didn't mix them up." Foreman said, with a rather disbelieving look plastered on his face before the car in the garage grabbed his attention. "I guess if you're gonna go out in a car, this ain't a bad one to choose."

Thirteen, upon hearing the comment, bent down to inspect the car more closely. Different possible scenarios of suicide flashed through her mind briefly. "If I ever did it, definitely wouldn't be like that."

Seeing Foreman's concerned expression, she realized what she must have sounded. "Don't worry, I'm not making any plans." Thirteen added quickly.

"I certainly wouldn't know. Ever since we kissed, you've been avoiding me."

"No, I haven't. Just been busy. Metal polish could cause nerve damage if he inhaled enough of it. Judging by the shine on that car, he used a fair amount." Thirteen replied, trying to subtly change the subject to avoid continuing that particular conversation.

"Judging by the fact that he owns a body shop and one of these respirators, I'd say he knew not to inhale." Not wanting to let Thirteen off the hook so easily, Foreman decided to try his luck. "Busy tonight? We can get some dinner."

"I don't think so." Thirteen grimaced, annoyed by the fact that Foreman couldn't take the hint and simply let the issue dropped.

"So making out, okay. Meals, too intimate?" Foreman couldn't help feeling somewhat displeased. Thirteen had opened up to him about her bitter past and then, initiated the kiss during Christmas. All these things had made him swollen with pride and he wanted so much more.

"I don't want to kiss you again either." Thirteen looked down, avoiding eye contact.

Hurt by the sudden revelation, Foreman's expression turned sullen and he pressed on. "Why? Because we work together?"

"No. Because I don't like you. Not in that way." Thirteen explained.

"That makes a lot of sense, considering you were the one that initiated the kiss." Foreman's voice raised by several decibels as he shifted his weight from one foot to the other.

Thirteen was getting intimidated by the way Foreman had changed his stance. The garage seemed to be shrinking all of a sudden, trapping her inside with _him._ Gathering her courage, she met Foreman's stare unflinchingly, she figured that the best way to salvage the situation was to soothe his mammoth-sized ego. "What doesn't make sense is me getting involved with anyone."

Foreman's appearance softened considerably after hearing Thirteen's response, feeling a small pang of sympathy for the woman in front of him. "I thought you'd gotten past that. That's why you agreed to the drug trial. You can't give up on life because-"

"I'm not giving up on life. I'm just giving up on you. I finally feel like I have a grip on things. I can handle this. What I can't handle is dragging anyone else down with me." Thirteen interrupted, not wanting to carry on with this needless conversation. Turning away from Foreman, she opened the freezer behind her and found numerous packaged meats.

"Does this look like quail to you?"

* * *

Cameron was buried deep within piles and piles of paperwork in her office at the ER when her pager went off. She grudgingly pulled out her pager to check the message and was pleasantly surprised to find that Thirteen was the one who had paged her to the diagnostics room. Without second thoughts, Cameron got up from the seat behind her desk and promptly headed towards said location.

The glass walls of the diagnostics room provided Cameron the view of its interior even before she stepped through its door. The first thing she noticed was that Thirteen wasn't in the room which was puzzling, considering she was the one who had paged her. Still, she pushed opened the door to the diagnostics room and stepped in without breaking her stride.

"I tried his home phone and he's not answering his cell either." Foreman stated, as soon as Cameron walked in.

Cameron's mind though, was on something else. "Where's-" Just when she was about to ask where Thirteen was, the brunette doctor entered the room with a scan of the patient in her hands.

"VQ scan showed pulmonary embolism." Thirteen told the team, tossing the scan onto the glass conference table.

"Means the pain's not psychosomatic." Taub concluded, finally convinced that the patient's pain was not psychological.

"It also means it's not rhabdomyolysis." Kutner deduced, dismissing the diagnosis that Thirteen had made earlier after she had found packs of quail stuffed in the freezer at the patient's home.

"You paged me?" Cameron, who had been quietly listening, turned towards Thirteen and asked.

Thirteen startled a little at the unexpected voice, having not seen Cameron when she walked in. "Yeah. Since House isn't responding to our calls, we need all the help we can get." She explained, regaining her composure.

"Up till now, his heart and lungs were the only places he didn't have pain." Foreman's statement had his desired effect of grabbing both Cameron's and Thirteen's attention, who he saw were engaged in their own conversation.

"Means it's getting worse." Kutner sighed.

Before anyone could continue on with the differential diagnosis, the phone rang. After Foreman put it on speaker, a familiar voice came through.

"Got to let the phone ring more than four times when you're calling a cripple. Chronic pain and pulmonary embolism, go."

"How'd you know he had-"

"You called after midnight. It's got to be a heart problem." Kutner didn't even get to finish his question when House impatiently interrupted. "Heart would only be consistent with rhabdo, which means Thirteen and Foreman would be singing in the rain, which means it has to be lungs as well."

Cameron's eyebrows turned upwards in puzzlement upon hearing House's remark, unsure of what to make of it. She felt her stomach lurched at the mere thought of Thirteen being even remotely intimate with Foreman, causing her to raise her right hand unconsciously to cover her mouth.

"Hypercoagulable state could cause pain and a PE." Thirteen responded, ignoring the unsubtle comment.

"You think the blood clot was caused by a clotting problem. That's helpful." House retorted, shooting down Thirteen's suggestion sarcastically.

"What if it's a cancer syndrome, like Trousseau's? Explain blood clots, multifocal pain and lack of obvious physical signs." Kutner proposed.

House seemingly agreed with his diagnosis and ordered the team to check the patient's chest, abdomen and pelvis for any tumours.

"Why did he think only you two would be singing in the rain?" Taub asked mockingly, directing his question towards Thirteen and Foreman after House had hung up the phone.

Foreman took on a smug look while Thirteen chose to simply take the patient's and exit the room, impervious to the mocking. She refused to be invested in the ridiculous notion of her and Foreman together. She had regretted kissing Foreman as soon as the kiss had ended, but after going through so much, she needed someone for comfort and Foreman just happened to be in proximity.

* * *

Thirteen closed her eyes and rubbed her temple in frustration as she waited for the elevator to arrive, feeling a migraine coming on. Despite hearing hurried footsteps approaching her from behind, Thirteen made no move to turn around, not in the mood for any social contact. When she saw a pink-clad figure stopped beside her from her peripheral vision, she couldn't help but glanced briefly towards its direction. Her tense shoulders relaxed visibly.

"Are you okay?" Cameron asked in a quiet voice, after Thirteen made a brief eye contact with her. She had quickly followed Thirteen out of the diagnostics room once the brunette doctor left, thoroughly annoyed with the team's insensitivity.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Thirteen replied in an equally quiet tone.

"So, why did House think only you and Foreman would be singing in the rain?" The question seemed to have bypassed Cameron's brain and came out of her mouth before she even had a chance to stop it from spilling out.

"What?" Thirteen breathed out harshly, she couldn't believe that she had heard Cameron right. "I understand House's need to mock me and I guess in a lesser extent, Taub's too. But you? We hardly even know each other." Thirteen continued on as she stared incredulously at Cameron, the volume of her voice rising slightly towards the end.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say that. It just-" Cameron apologized, trying desperately to explain herself.

"Whatever it is you meant to say, forget it. I don't have the time nor am I in the mood to hear it. Besides, I have a patient to take care of." Thirteen cut Cameron off before she could finish her explanation and proceeded to step into the elevator that had just arrived, keeping her head down to avoid looking into pleading eyes.

After the elevator door closed, Cameron groaned in frustration. "Why the hell did I say that?" She whispered angrily. She had been so absorbed in her own thoughts about Thirteen and Foreman, she just couldn't stop herself from wondering out loud.

"Say what?"

Cameron snapped her head up towards the source of the question and came face to face with the last person she wanted to see in the world. Foreman was looking at her expectantly with more curiosity than concern. Scowling, Cameron unnecessarily pushed past him and stormed in the direction of the stairway, leaving the perplexed dark-skinned doctor behind and his question unanswered in the process.

**This is my first ever published fan fiction! Please read and review, tell me what you think!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks so much for the reviews! They gave me the confidence to continue writing this story. Hope I don't disappoint.**

**The explanation as to how Chase is out of the picture will be given in this chapter.**

**This is the second and final chapter for the episode, Painless. Enjoy!**

At the same time as Kutner and Taub conducted the tests on the patient, Thirteen was sitting in the examination room in the clinical trial area. "I promise, I'm only holding your hand to check for choreiform movement. I'm getting absolutely no intimacy from it." Foreman joked, trying to lighten the mood as he slowly bent Thirteen's arm back.

Thirteen, feeling uncomfortable with the closeness of the other doctor, shifted her body to create some distance between them. Foreman, on the other hand, remained oblivious to her obvious discomfort. She let out a defeated sigh when he made the unfunny joke and noticed the slight slump in his expression, indicating that her reaction was not what he had expected.

"I told you, it has nothing to do with you." Thirteen replied with a tone of finality, after dropping her head and then closing her eyes for a few moments to calm her nerves, and at the same time showing him her palm as a sign for him to back off. She wished Foreman would just let this whole issue rest and settle on the professional relationship they had shared before. There was no such luck though, as Foreman continued his pursue.

"I know. That's the problem. There's 80 reasons we shouldn't date, but you can't shut everyone out. You're gonna need help, support." His tone revealing a hint of gentleness, even as his appearance remained stoic.

"Look at our patient. 32 years old, not dead yet and already he's traumatized his wife, his son-" Thirteen tried to argue, attempting to take an example to let him down easy. Her voice rising by a few decibels as she became exasperated with every second that the conversation went on.

"And I'll bet they're cherishing every traumatic minute he has left, wouldn't trade him for the healthiest guy in the world." Foreman responded, interrupting Thirteen's explanation.

"True. And they are stuck suffering with him, hating every day. Only their pain has no prospect of relief." Her retort managed to silence Foreman. Before he had a chance to think of a reasonable argument, Kutner and Taub entered the examination room with scans of the patient.

"Is this a bad time?" Kutner asked as he stepped into the room.

"No." Thirteen answered.

"Yeah." Foreman replied simultaneously with Thirteen, shooting her a displeased look afterwards.

"No trace of cancer in the patient." Kutner said as he handed the scans to Foreman, after exchanging inquisitive looks with Taub at the response from their colleagues.

"But we did find edema in his intestines, air in the intestinal blood vessels and House still won't answer his phone." Taub added.

After concluding that blockages all over his body would explain the patient's pain and why the cramps come and go, Foreman instructed Kutner and Taub to do an angioplasty and find the blockages before the patient suffers from another cardiac arrest.

"I'll help." Thirteen reacted quickly, seizing the opportunity to escape the examination room. She swiftly grabbed her lab coat and rushed out the door behind Kutner and Taub, relieved to be away from Foreman at last. Slightly dumbfounded by the brunette doctor's quick exit, Foreman clenched his jaw in frustration and then set off to put his back-up plan in motion.

* * *

As Cameron stitched up the rather ghastly wound on the forearm of the alcohol-scented brawny man in front of her, she was contemplating the idea of apologizing to Thirteen. That same thought had also been running through her mind repeatedly with other different patients before him. Unfortunately, this time around a slight slip in concentration caused Cameron to prick the needle she was holding right into the opened wound.

"Ouch! What the hell, doctor?" The brawny man yelled, feeling the full effect of the painful sting that resulted.

The abrupt shriek earned the attention of almost half the ER and jolted Cameron out of her own thoughts. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry! It was an accident." She cried, apologizing over and over again. "Please let me try to fix it."

"After that? Hell, no!" The brawny man protested while holding his wounded forearm protectively with tears glistening in his eyes like a lost puppy, fearing the likelihood of the accident reoccurring. "Get me another doctor!" He added quickly.

"No, trust me! It won't happen again. I promise. That was just an acc-"

"It's okay, Dr. Cameron. I can take it from here." Cameron's plead was cut short by another doctor, who was attending to a different patient in the adjacent bed. He pressed his lips together into a straight line in his attempt at a reassuring smile.

"Alright, I guess. Thanks." Cameron replied, reluctantly getting up from the stool she was sitting on. "I'm really sorry." She apologized to the brawny man once again, expressing her regret in a quiet voice which was responded with a hateful glare in return. With that, she hung her head down and trudged back to her office.

Once she was in her office, Cameron flopped down onto the small couch situated right at the corner. Rubbing her face with her hands, she let out a tired sigh as her mind refused to let up with thoughts of Thirteen constantly flooding through. She took a glance at her watch, figuring the time was about right for Thirteen to have ended her round of drug treatment, she swung her legs off the couch and headed for the door.

When she reached the clinical trial area, Cameron looked around for any sign of Thirteen. The door to one of the treatment rooms opened and she saw the object of her musing walking out, then turning in the other direction away from her. Instinctively, Cameron rushed after her.

"Dr. Hadley!" Cameron called out as soon as she deemed the brunette doctor was within hearing range.

During the treatment, Thirteen had a whole speech planned out for the impending confrontation with Foreman. She was not going to be polite and understanding with the dark-skinned doctor as she had been in the past couple of encounters. He had crossed the line by manipulating the schedule of the clinical trial. Thirteen exited the treatment room, jaw set in determination as she braced herself.

She only managed a few steps when she heard someone called out for her. Whirling around, Thirteen saw Cameron jogging up towards her.

"Is everything okay, Dr. Cameron?" Thirteen asked and fidgeted impatiently while waiting for an answer as Cameron tried to catch her breath.

"Yeah. No. Actually, I want to apologize for what I said earlier." Cameron replied rather breathlessly. "About you and Foreman." She continued, after noticing the confused look on Thirteen's face.

"Oh. It's, it's alright. Don't worry about it. I probably overreacted a little bit there as well." Thirteen uttered, glancing towards the reception desk distractingly when she saw Foreman approached it from the corner of her eyes. "Look, is there anything else? I really need to go."

"Erm, no. Not really." Was Cameron befuddled reply. "I just wanted to say I'm sor-"

"Okay, then." Thirteen interrupted, before turning away and strode out towards the reception desk.

Cameron was left surprised as Thirteen left her rather abruptly. Her unspoken words left hanging meaningless in the air. When she saw Thirteen approaching Foreman at the desk, she couldn't help the jealousy which ignited within her and the heartache that followed. _Maybe there is something going on between them after all. _Finding herself unable to continue looking at the scene that was unfolding in front of her, Cameron turned away and numbly dragged herself back to the ER.

* * *

"Nice." Thirteen started, the moment she reached Foreman's side.

Taken aback by the confrontational attitude, all Foreman could muster up was a "What?"

"Switching Janice's appointment time so I could see the skies brighten like a Lifetime TV movie." Thirteen answered.

Foreman, at last understanding the situation, attempted to feign ignorance and hide his surprise at her ability to uncover his motive so quickly. "I don't know what you're-"

"Sticking your most improved study participant in my face. Is that your way of getting into my pants?" Thirteen asked sardonically, angered by the fact that Foreman wouldn't man up and admit to the deed.

"I don't make the schedule, and if I did, I wouldn't use it as a social lubricant. And this is the first I've heard of Janice improving at all. So, hey, thanks for the good news." Foreman calmly replied, meeting Thirteen's stare audaciously with his classic smug look. Without giving Thirteen the opportunity to respond, he turned away and allowed a prideful smile to spread across his face.

Thirteen stood dumbly in place as she clenched her jaw in a mixed of frustration and embarrassment, staring disbelievingly at Foreman as he walked away. She began to doubt her suspicion of Foreman's intention and mentally reprimanded herself for jumping to conclusion.

* * *

The ER had been relatively quiet with no major accident occurring, leaving Cameron in her office alone with her thoughts as she brooded over the encounters that she had with Thirteen. Ever since Thirteen made the sarcastic yeah-moves-much-faster-this-way remark to her at the agoraphobic patient's home two months ago, she had been bothered by Thirteen's lack of interest in her.

Cameron was bothered to the point where she had practically ignored the insecurity Chase had been feeling during their relationship. He told her how she had never emptied a drawer or cleaned out her closet for him. It was then Cameron realized that it shouldn't have been that hard to do the things he said. When the case ended, so did her relationship with Chase.

Desperate to forget about Thirteen, Cameron got up from behind her desk and headed to the OR where the pain patient, Jeff was getting the total spinal block to test if the cause of his pain was his brain.

* * *

When the total spinal block didn't work, House came up with the theory of the patient's brain receptors reading painkillers as killer pain and ordered the team to take the patient off all drugs. He now stood outside the patient's room looking through its glass wall as Kutner and Taub began to wean him off the drugs.

"This is lunacy. You're torturing this guy based on a hunch." Foreman stated as he joined House.

"It's the only hunch we've got. If I really wanted to torture him, I'd manipulate a clinical trial in the hopes that he'd sleep with you." House retorted with a slight smirk.

"Are you suggesting I got Thirteen in that trial because of some personal-"

"I think you got her in because of your usual Messiah complex. I think you messed with the appointment schedule because of your 'I like to have sex' complex." House interrupted Foreman as he tried to deny the accusation albeit unsuccessfully.

"I checked the logs. You moved your most promising patient right before her. False hope quite the aphrodisiac." House commented, looking at Foreman pointedly.

Feeling exposed, Foreman attempted to justify his action. "How's it false if the trials are showing results?"

"Well, if it were that promising, you wouldn't have to change the schedule." House shot back at his companion's weak effort at justification. "But hey, hope springs eternal." With that, House turned away from the patient's room and limped off. Foreman, conversely, stood in place, annoyed by the fact that his motive was seen through so easily.

* * *

After leaving the observation gallery of the OR, Cameron drowned herself in the tons of paperwork that were sitting on her desk in her office at the ER. She was going through the last pile of paperwork for the day when she heard a tentative knock on the door. She scrunched up her face in frustration, assuming a nurse was on the other side of the door holding another thick pile of patient files. _Not more of this!_

"Come in!" Cameron said, raising her voice loud enough to be heard.

"Sorry, am I interrupting something?" Thirteen asked as she poked her head into the office, sensing a level of annoyance in Cameron's voice.

Cameron's head snapped up at the unexpected voice. The fact that she had been sitting in the same posture for the past couple hours or so, the quick and sudden movement of her head accidentally caused her to strain a muscle in her neck.

"Owww!" She cried out, rubbing the strained muscle with her right hand in an attempt to relieve the pain.

"God, are you okay?" Thirteen stepped into the office fully and walked over to the desk, concern etched onto her flawless features. "I didn't mean to scare you." She added, smiling sheepishly. Her smile faded when she saw the amount of discomfort Cameron was in.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just- I didn't think that it would be you knocking on the door. I was surprised, that's all. I thought it was a nurse bringing me more paperwork. I have been reading through patient files for the past few hours and I'm really tired. It would explain why my neck's a little stiff. It didn't cross my mind that it would be you-"

"Dr. Cameron!" Thirteen exclaimed. As much as she enjoyed Cameron rambling on insecurely, she decided that air was probably a good thing for the blonde doctor right now. "Calm down. You're gonna hyperventilate." A small laugh escaping from Thirteen at the end.

"Right. Sorry." Cameron muttered, slightly flustered at the attention she was receiving from the brunette doctor.

"It's okay. There's nothing to apologize for." Thirteen replied. She shoved her hands in the front pockets of her pants, rocking back and forth slightly on her heels as she mulled over on the things to say. "If anyone should apologize, it's me."

Cameron was puzzled, yet at the same time fascinated, by the sudden uncertainty the normally composed Thirteen was showing. When Thirteen spoke again, Cameron was even more confused than she was. "What, why?"

"I haven't really been..." Thirteen paused, thinking of an appropriate word. "pleasant with you during our past few meetings. So, I guess, I just wanted to say I'm sorry. And also, I would like to make it up to you. Does dinner tomorrow night sound good?"

Cameron opened her mouth to say something, but failed miserably. The only success she got was looking gobsmacked. Her mind blanked as she stared incredulously at the object of her obsession for the past couple months who had just asked her out, in a way.

"Dr. Cameron?" Thirteen called out hesitantly, her eyebrows slowly dipping into a frown.

When she heard Thirteen called her name, Cameron finally managed to snap out of the spell she was under and find her voice. "Yeah. Sounds good." Replying in a rather soft voice.

If their surrounding hadn't been quiet, Thirteen thought for sure she would have missed what Cameron had just said. "Great. I'll see you tomorrow then, Dr. Cameron. Take care. Especially of your neck." Thirteen chuckled as she added the last part after remembering the strained muscle, flashing Cameron a charming smile before turning on her heels and then headed towards the door. She stopped abruptly at the door, smacking herself mentally at being awfully sidetracked.

Thirteen turned around to face Cameron again, whose cheeks had turned pink. She stared at the adorable expression the blonde doctor was sporting for a moment before explaining the real purpose she was here.

"Actually, I was here to tell you that Jeff is getting better. House diagnosed him with epilepsy. So, he's gonna be okay." She explained.

"Oh, that's great. Thanks for telling me. And also for the dinner invite." Cameron trailed off towards the end when shyness overcame her.

"You're welcome." Without waiting for a response, Thirteen turned around and headed for the exit for the second time.

After the door closed, a huge grin plastered across Cameron's face and she proceeded to squeal internally. Powerless to the excitement building up within her, she decided to head into the ER to work off some of the restlessness as she willed tomorrow to come sooner.

* * *

Thirteen headed straight to the clinical trial area for her next round of drug treatment after having asked Cameron out for dinner. Now seated in a chair in the treatment room writing on a yellow notepad, she smiled to herself as she replayed the scene in her head.

She had never interacted much with the blonde doctor before the last case and honestly, never really made much of an attempt to. But after everything that had happened with her the past few days, she had noticed Cameron seemed to be making an effort and so, she decided she should probably do the same. The fact that Thirteen thought Cameron was incredibly beautiful and also extremely adorable at times, contributed as well.

"You're here early." A familiar voice interrupted her thoughts. She looked up from her notepad to see Foreman standing in front of her, wearing a smile.

"I'm feeling better." Thirteen replied truthfully, determined not to let him spoil her good mood. "What's wrong?" She asked when she saw Foreman fiddling with her IV.

"IV's leaking a little. It's no big deal. I'll be right back." He answered reassuringly.

Thirteen watched him leave before directing her attention back to writing on the yellow notepad.

"Rita, the spike on Dr. Hadley's IV bag wasn't pushed in all the way. Don't want any dosing errors." Foreman informed the nurse at the reception desk outside the treatment room while using a tissue to clean the medication off his hand.

"Sorry. It won't happen again." The nurse apologized. "It stinks, doesn't it?" She couldn't help but asked after smelling the scent of the medication.

"What?" Was Foreman's puzzled response.

"The medication. When we switch out the bags, you can smell it. It's disgusting." The nurse replied, scrunching up her face in repugnance.

Foreman looked befuddled at the nurse's answer, sniffing the air around a little. "I don't smell anything." He stated.

"Oh, she must be on the placebo then." The nurse responded casually, failing to notice the darkening expression on Foreman's face as he turned around to stare at a blissfully ignorant Thirteen writing on her notepad.

* * *

Cameron was in the process of examining a patient in the ER when she glanced up and saw Cuddy standing a few feet away from the bed. She smiled and nodded Cameron over, indicating that she wanted to speak with her. Cameron smiled at her patient before politely excusing herself.

"Is there something wrong?" Cameron wondered, as she and Cuddy walked side by side towards the nurses' station.

"You offered to do House's budget because you wanted him to owe you, wanted him to take that case. Why?" Cuddy asked.

"I thought it would help House. Seeing someone worse off than him, possibly curing a guy who has even less to look forward to." Cameron plainly stated. She looked up from the patient file to see Cuddy nodding thoughtfully at her answer. After a short moment of awkward silence, Cameron cleared her throat uncomfortably and started to go back to work.

"Can I ask you something?" Cameron stopped and turned around at the question, tilting her head in wait.

Cuddy hesitated for a few seconds before blurting out the question. "How would you like my job?"

**Poor Cameron, it wasn't my intention to make her verbally impaired around Thirteen which you guys had picked up on, it just happened to turn out that way. But she's so adorable that way.**

**I completely forgot about the patient towards the end and so, I had to make Thirteen turn back around from making her dramatic exit from Cameron's office. Damn!**

**And see how the scene in the treatment room had no "Foreman, busy tonight?", that has got to be the unsexiest thing Thirteen has ever said.**

**Up next is the episode Big Baby!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Here's the first chapter for the episode, Big Baby! These few episodes are rather Foreteen-heavy, so bear with me as I get rid of Foreman and wipe Foreteen off the face of this story.**

**Honestly speaking, this chapter kinda got away from me a little. So, I hope it's still acceptable for you guys! Especially the last part.**

Thirteen sat in the diagnostics room, sipping her coffee contently as she thought about the dinner she was having with Cameron later that night. She had already reserved a table at a cosy Italian restaurant downtown. Despite the need to constantly remind herself that it was just purely dinner with a co-worker and _not _a date, she couldn't help but be in especially good mood this morning. Her musings were cut short when House entered the room.

"29 year-old Special Ed Teacher coughs up blood all over Corky. No dypsnea, no weight loss." House started as soon as he stepped into the room, tossing the patient's file onto the glass conference table where the team were gathered around. He began pacing about the room and noticed the obvious smirk on Foreman's normally expressionless face.

"Why are you smirking?" He asked, looking pointedly at the aforementioned doctor.

"Never thought I'd see the day you were taking orders from Cameron." Foreman answered, the smirk remaining.

Thirteen straightened her back in her seat in response to the sudden revelation, her wide eyes looking at House for confirmation.

"Cameron's in charge?" Kutner questioned disbelievingly.

"When did that happen?" Thirteen blurted out uncharacteristically with a frown on her face. Dinner with a co-worker had unexpectedly evolved into dinner with her superior. The notion sent a whole new wave of nervousness throughout Thirteen. She grabbed the blue case file away from Taub, attempting to distract herself from the whole situation by reading the patient's file.

"You're gonna destroy her, aren't you?" Kutner asked with a hint of excitement in his voice, thrilled at the potential drama that could unfold. Thirteen arched an unimpressed eyebrow at hearing the comment.

"I am going to do my job. If that involves leaving her a rotting pulp!" House responded, his eyes widening comically in mock abhorrence at the latter comment.

"Cameron's gonna mark her territory. She'll probably over compensate and destroy you." Foreman retaliated.

"Bleeding ulcer." Taub said simply while pointing to the patient's file, his expression dulled. Always the pragmatist, he showed no particular interest in the conversation except for the patient. He successfully ended the preceding discussion about Cameron when Thirteen countered his diagnosis.

"Scope of the stomach and lungs were clean, yet she continues to spit up blood from both her stomach and lungs." Thirteen replied, going through the patient's file for other ideas as Kutner tried to sneak a peek at it beside her.

"This means it's probably something wrong with the blood itself - Leukaemia, Von Willebrand's." Foreman suggested.

"Thoracic tumour is a better fit. Erodes into her airway and oesophagus-"

"Oh, will you two stop it already?" Thirteen wasn't given a chance to finish her sentence when House interrupted impatiently, not able to stand what he assumed was furtive flirting between the two doctors. The question earned puzzled looks from the team.

Thirteen was to some extent befuddled by her boss' statement, although she did have a slight inkling as to what he was talking about. "Stop what?" She asked, deciding to humour House.

"Disagreeing." Was the simple reply that came.

"Okay, which one of us shouldn't have an opinion?" Thirteen asked defensively.

"It's not an opinion. It's a smoke screen. Toss out a lame idea, instead of agreeing with Foreman's better idea because you're worried that'll confirm that he's boldly gone where no man has gone before." House asserted, staring straight at Thirteen who merely scratched the back of her head at the declaration. She took in a deep breath to composed herself.

"You slept with Foreman?" Kutner breathed out incredulously, his eyes widened in comprehension.

"Sorry. You were busy." Thirteen replied sarcastically, pushing the patient's file towards him. Seeing Kutner's stunned expression, her face scrunched up in both annoyance and disgust that he actually believed she and Foreman had slept together. "Of course not!" She exclaimed, letting out a frustrating sigh afterwards. Her good mood had undoubtedly been ruined.

"Drop it, House. We're not seeing each other, end of discussion. It's not relevant." Foreman jumped in with slight bitterness in his tone of voice. His every advance had been shot down by the brunette doctor, leaving his swollen pride deflated.

Taub looked back and forth between Thirteen and Foreman, too surprised by the sudden turn of events to come up with any sort of comment on the particular subject.

"It's extremely relevant. Apparently, it colours everything. Now, I have no idea of you have differing opinions because you have differing opinions or because you just can't stand to be around each other." House countered, not about to let the matter dropped.

"How about you just judge our ideas based on their own merit?" Thirteen suggested sensibly, even though she was thoroughly irritated by the pointless debate.

"Oh, you don't want me to do that." House retorted, earning amused looks from Kutner and Taub while Thirteen clenched her jaw in frustration. "Go run a bleeding-time test, confirm our patient's blood is screwy, then you can come back and pretend to disagree about why."

Thirteen puffed out an annoying breath before getting up and followed the rest of the team out of the diagnostics room. She chanced a quick glance at Foreman, whose appearance remained stoic. _Figures._

_

* * *

_

Cameron had been spending most of the morning cooped up in Cuddy's office dealing with all sorts of administrative work. The only time she left was to hand House the patient's file in the cafeteria. She was already feeling exhausted though she had only just started working a few hours ago, which could also be attributed to the fact that she had been tossing and turning in her bed last night, thinking about her impending dinner with Thirteen.

She was midway through reading a departmental report when the phone on the desk rang. Her hand wandered blindly towards the source of the ringing, keeping her eyes focused on the report before her. When the blind search for the handset came up empty, Cameron casted an annoyed glance towards the phone that was sitting on the corner of the desk before picking it up and sandwiching it between her left ear and shoulder.

"Hello?" Cameron greeted rather impatiently as she flipped the pages of the report.

"Erm, Dr. Cameron? It's me. Thirteen." Thirteen replied hesitantly, not quite sure if that was exasperation she heard in Cameron's voice. "Sorry, if I interrupted anything." She added, grimacing slightly.

Cameron abruptly ceased all of her movements. Her hands froze in midair when she heard Thirteen's voice came through the phone. Her mind blanked for a moment before realizing Thirteen was waiting for her response.

"Oh, no no no! It's okay, you weren't interrupting anything." Cameron recovered as quickly as she could, eager to absolve Thirteen of any guilt that she might be feeling. She bit her lower lip to prevent herself from squealing out of excitement.

Feeling restless all of a sudden, Cameron stood up from her seat and straightened her skirt reflexively. "Is something wrong?" She couldn't help but wonder as she mulled over the reason behind the unforeseen phone call from Thirteen.

"Yeah. I just want to warn you about House. He's heading to your office right now to demand permission to do total body irradiation on the patient." Thirteen answered, sighing in relief that she had called Cameron in time.

"What?" Cameron breathed out incredulously, searching through the papers on her desk to check for any extra copies of the patient's details. "Why would the patient need-"

She didn't get the chance to finish her question when House barged into the office. Cameron's head snapped up at the sudden intrusion.

"Got a patient with ITP. Need to hit her with radiation." House started immediately once he was in Cuddy's office, wasting no time in getting straight to the point.

"I'm gonna have to hang up now." Cameron said to Thirteen on the phone.

"Okay. Good luck." Was the response she got before the line went dead.

"Methotrexate." Cameron stated simply while hanging up the phone, then directing her attention to sorting out the papers on the desk. She was jumping with joy internally that Thirteen had been concerned enough about her to give the heads-up on House, preventing her from being caught off guard. She had to refrain herself from showing that joy with a grin by pursing her lips into a straight line.

"Good point. On the other hand, if she bleeds into her brain, she's gonna need a Special Ed class of her own." House responded, stubbornly sticking to his theory.

"Fine." Knowing clearly that House was testing her, Cameron nonchalantly sat back down in the seat and pretended to give in.

House, who was staring out the window, turned his head back and stared at Cameron disbelievingly. "Really?"

"Yeah, if you think it's right, do it." Cameron replied, her calmed features unwavering.

"Hmmm," House let out thoughtfully. "Some people thought you were gonna be brutal, marking your territory."

Cameron frowned slightly at the statement. "Who?" She asked, curiosity getting the better of her. Her mind immediately went to Thirteen, which was more out of a habit than an actual consideration. She shook her head quickly to banish the ridiculous thought.

"Nobody. Just because I call him nobody, it doesn't make me a racist." House answered with a mock innocent expression.

"I'm not gonna play games." Cameron responded, regaining her composure. "If you come to me with a request and it makes medical sense, I'll say yes."

"I need oral sex." Cameron's eyebrows rose higher than she ever thought they could at the unexpected demand as repugnance coursed throughout her whole body. "I'm pretty sure biological imperative qualifies as medical sense." House continued on, justifying his perverse request.

"Can I return my phone call now?" Cameron drew out with her jaw hanging slightly. She wasn't really going to return the phone call to Thirteen, she just wanted to end the conversation that she was currently having.

"I don't really see how that's gonna be possible." House half-replied, half-wondered.

Cameron, ignoring the comment, reached past him to grab the handset while keeping eye contact, disbelief evident in her eyes. She proceeded to press random buttons on the keypad on the phone. Upon seeing that they had come to the end of their discussion, House turned around and limped away.

When the door of Cuddy's office closed behind House, Cameron slammed the phone down in frustration. She pinched the bridge of her nose, feeling a terrible migraine coming on as she leaned all the way back into the seat with a sigh. The day just kept getting longer.

* * *

After hanging up the phone with Cameron, Thirteen hurried back to the patient's room to join the team in administering the treatment House had ordered before he went to seek permission from Cameron for the total body irradiation. They conducted the bleeding-time test for the second time to determine if the patient had improved under the new methotrexate treatment, but to no avail.

The team hung around the elevator area outside the diagnostics room, patiently waiting for House's arrival to deliver him the bad news. When the elevator door opened for umpteenth time, they spotted House standing inside alone.

"Patient won't respond to methotrexate. Bleeding time hasn't improved." Thirteen was the first to speak.

"You have a medical dilemma for me, I have one for you." House started as he hobbled towards his office with the team in tow. "I need a reason to not do total body irradiation." Still couldn't quite come to terms with the fact that Cameron had actually given him the green light.

"Other than that Cameron said you can't?" Foreman questioned smugly. He was secretly pleased that House had gotten his ego bruised after having tormented him endlessly about the relationship between him and Thirteen, or more specifically lack thereof.

"She said I can." House replied.

"What? She really said that?" Thirteen asked in disbelief. Her eyebrows dipped into a concentrated frown, wondering what the hell Cameron was thinking despite having already been warned.

House, noticing the dramatic shift in air around the usually cool, calm and collected Thirteen, narrowed his eyes at her. "Why, you've got a reason to think she didn't?" Wagging his eyebrows suggestively.

Foreman, who seemed to have noticed the change as well, gave her a sidelong glance.

Thirteen opened her mouth to answer but was beaten to the punch or rather saved by Kutner, for having the need to explain. "Then why don't we just do it?" He asked. Thirteen snapped her mouth shut at hearing Kutner's voice, a sheepish expression creeping up to her features.

"Because it's premature, reckless and potentially lethal." House raised his voice slightly, his response mirroring what Kutner had said himself earlier when he first suggested the total body irradiation.

"Then why don't we just don't do it?" Kutner asked again in ignorance.

House let out an exasperated breath. "Because that would let Cameron in on the fact that I never intended to do it." Giving a 'duh' expression afterwards.

"You're screwed." Taub stated simply, earning him a glare from House.

"Unless we irradiate her. Without the irradiation." Thirteen suggested. "We book the nuclear lab. We fill out the paperwork. We bring the patient down there. We do everything but flip the switch." The idea earned her an approving look from House. The sense of pride within her was quickly replaced by guilt for having to deceive Cameron.

"Go. Do. Don't flip." House ordered, emphasizing on the last command.

"And is there anything we should be doing, you know, to actually help the patient?" Taub sighed out just as the team was turning away, becoming slightly disillusioned with the ongoing power-play between Cameron and House.

"Trust me. In the long term, this'll help all our patients. In the short term, double the dose of methotrexate and add prednisone." House replied before the team headed off.

* * *

Cameron had been thoroughly worn-out by the morning events. Apart from having endless paperwork to sign off on, she also had to deal the unbearable House who would unquestionably go all out to make life that much more difficult for her. She threw her head back in frustration, letting her hands hung loosely at her sides as closing her eyes in an effort to catch a much needed break.

Her break was interrupted when someone knocked on the door. Cameron grudgingly lifted her head back up to glare at the interrupter. But her expression immediately softened at the sight of a certain brunette doctor, looking expectantly at her through one of the glass panes of the door. Not trusting her voice, Cameron motioned for Thirteen to enter.

"Hey." Thirteen greeted as she stepped into the office, giving Cameron a small smile.

"Hey. What brings you down here?" Cameron asked, surprised at the visit from the brunette doctor. Her heart was beginning to thump speedily and almost painfully against her chest. She tried to slow her heart beat down by taking subtle deep breaths.

"Erm, I just wanted to see how you are coping with everything." Thirteen answered, offering part of the truth. The main reason was she just found herself wanting to see Cameron.

"Oh." Was the only thing Cameron managed to get out. She had to force away the grin that was fighting its way onto her face by biting the inside of her cheek.

"Yeah." Thirteen said, more so to fill up the silence. She awkwardly tugged her hair behind her ear as the silence stretched on uncomfortably. She was standing in the middle of the office completely exposed to the silence, making the situation a whole lot worse for her.

"So, how are you doing?" She asked her unanswered question again, not able to bear the quiet any longer.

"Ah," Cameron started before pausing again, cursing herself on the inside at her verbal impairment in front of Thirteen. "I'm, I'm fine. Great, actually... Everything's, everything's fine. Great, actually..." Cameron forced out lamely, stuttering here and there. A guilty expression plastered onto her face.

"Okay." Thirteen drew out, puzzled by the other woman's nervousness. "Are you sure? Because you seem a little nervous." She added on second thought, allowing her concern for Cameron to show.

"Yeah! No. I'm fine, really." Cameron replied quickly, covering her eyes with her hand for a brief moment in an attempt to compose herself. "Is everything okay with the patient?" She questioned, slyly changing the subject.

The question snapped Thirteen out of her own reverie. She had been watching Cameron with fascination, entirely intrigued by her rather odd behaviour. "About that, why did you agree to let House do the irradiation?" She answered with a question of her own.

"I had to say yes because he wanted me to say no. I'm the new kid. He had to test me." Cameron replied confidently without the slightest hitch, surprising both herself and Thirteen.

At the response, Thirteen raised an impressed eyebrow and nodded thoughtfully. "Wow, you managed three full sentences there without stammering. I'm proud of you, Dr. Cameron." She couldn't help but teased the blonde doctor who seemed to be a little on edge.

Cameron felt her cheeks flushed at the comment, dropping her head slightly in embarrassment. The action didn't go unnoticed by Thirteen, who smirked at the reaction.

"Wait. You guys aren't seriously going to do the total body radiation, right?" She asked in shock as she snapped her head up to Thirteen, having just realized the implication of her decision.

"Okay. You didn't hear this from me." Thirteen began after a moment of contemplation. "We are not _really_ gonna irradiate her. We are just making it seemed as though we did on the surface." Deliberately leaving out the part about it being her suggestion.

"Oh, good. Had me worried there for a moment." Cameron chuckled lightly, thoroughly enjoying the interaction.

They slipped into a comfortable silence unlike the one a while ago, exchanging shy smiles with each other. A shrieking beep resounded through the quiet office moments later, startling the two doctors. Thirteen cut off the annoying sound by pressing the right button on her pager.

"Sorry." Smiling sheepishly, she checked the message to see that Taub had paged her to the nuclear lab. "I have to go." Thirteen said, disappointment apparent in her voice.

"Oh." Cameron couldn't help the sigh that escaped after that. She had finally managed to settle down in Thirteen's presence for the first time, but was crudely interrupted by an untimely page.

Thirteen felt her heart dropped at the sight of Cameron's saddened expression. "There's always that dinner tonight. Does eight sound good?" She asked, trying to cheer Cameron up.

Cameron allowed a bright smile to envelop her face at the reminder, touched by the brunette doctor's effort to lift her spirits. "Absolutely." She answered breathlessly.

"I'll see you later then. I'm gonna be late for my patient's fake radiation." Thirteen joked, eliciting a hearty laugh from the blonde doctor which reverberated pleasantly into her ears. After exchanging one final smile with each other, Thirteen reluctantly turned away and headed towards the door.

**Not much drama in this chapter, but you get Camteen interactions! Even though they are rather mellow.**

**Don't know if anyone noticed this, but Thirteen always seemed to catch Cameron in a bad time which really wasn't intentional on my part. I guess I just subconsciously want Thirteen to make Cameron feel better. :D**

**The drama will begin in the next chapter with the infamous drug switch fiasco. So, stay tuned! Hope everyone's still enjoying the story!  
**


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